Despite having produced and directed over a dozen different Metal Gear titles in his long career, Hideo Kojima says that he still hasn’t achieved his “original” image of the series. Until he does, he’s here to stay.

In an interview with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (via GamesIndustry.biz), Kojima noted that the continuing advancement of game development keeps giving him more tools.

As such, he’s constantly refining the idea of Metal Gear with each new console generation, but he apparently still hasn’t reached the ideal concept that he originally had in his head when he first started the series.

Quite honestly it’s surprising to me, 25 years ago I never really imagined that game hardware would evolve this far so quickly. But, if the question is whether or not I’m happy with where it is, the answer is no. For example, if you’re going to create a piece of art the first image is in your head. And that original image popped into my head 25 years ago. For 25 years I’ve been trying to recreate that image in the form of a game.

The amount of tools I have available to me has changed, it’s increased. I have more colours available to me in my palette, I have more tools available to me. But I still haven’t been able to achieve that original image that I had in my head. And until I’m able to achieve that I’ll keep on creating games.

Kojima goes on to say that his original concept won’t be realized until games are “truly immersive,” allowing players to feel their environment though gameplay. What exactly that means is up to interpretation, but it sounds a lot like the direction that Microsoft is heading in with their Kinect hardware and its rumored full-living room environment design.

Regardless, it doesn’t sound like the upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is going to hit that elusive mark for the famed game developer, either. However, the open world mission structure of the prequel title is something that Kojima says will be a crucial step in letting players tell their own story.

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Hideo Kojima Still Seeking His ‘Original’ Vision With Metal Gear Series

Despite having produced and directed over a dozen different Metal Gear titles in his long career, Hideo Kojima says that he still hasn't achieved his "original" image of the series. Until he does, he's here to stay.

Despite having produced and directed over a dozen different Metal Gear titles in his long career, Hideo Kojima says that he still hasn’t achieved his “original” image of the series. Until he does, he’s here to stay.

In an interview with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (via GamesIndustry.biz), Kojima noted that the continuing advancement of game development keeps giving him more tools.

As such, he’s constantly refining the idea of Metal Gear with each new console generation, but he apparently still hasn’t reached the ideal concept that he originally had in his head when he first started the series.

Quite honestly it’s surprising to me, 25 years ago I never really imagined that game hardware would evolve this far so quickly. But, if the question is whether or not I’m happy with where it is, the answer is no. For example, if you’re going to create a piece of art the first image is in your head. And that original image popped into my head 25 years ago. For 25 years I’ve been trying to recreate that image in the form of a game.

The amount of tools I have available to me has changed, it’s increased. I have more colours available to me in my palette, I have more tools available to me. But I still haven’t been able to achieve that original image that I had in my head. And until I’m able to achieve that I’ll keep on creating games.

Kojima goes on to say that his original concept won’t be realized until games are “truly immersive,” allowing players to feel their environment though gameplay. What exactly that means is up to interpretation, but it sounds a lot like the direction that Microsoft is heading in with their Kinect hardware and its rumored full-living room environment design.

Regardless, it doesn’t sound like the upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is going to hit that elusive mark for the famed game developer, either. However, the open world mission structure of the prequel title is something that Kojima says will be a crucial step in letting players tell their own story.